“I’ve seen it so many times,” Brooks said. “I know when he gets hot it’s hard to turn him off. And he was hot in that second half.”
Durant scored 10 points in the third quarter, making four of seven shots to bump his point total to 23 heading into the fourth. That’s when the real fireworks began.
Durant and Westbrook checked back in with 10:01 remaining, slightly earlier than normal after the Hawks pulled within four. Durant proceeded to score 18 of the Thunder’s final 25 points.
He got an offensive rebound and putback layup. He then walked into a deep 3-pointer off a feed from Thabo Sefolosha for a quick five straight.
“I felt it when Thabo hit me on the 3-pointer when I was trailing at the top of the key,” Durant said. “After that shot, I felt like I had a nice rhythm going and I just tried to exploit the matchups.”
His next bucket was a breakaway dunk that Hawks forward Josh Smith dang near clothes-lined him on as he powered it through. After flushing it, Durant walked toward the Hawks crowd, puffed out his chest and proclaimed “This is my (expletive) house.”
“Uh,” Durant smiled and said, “I don’t remember that.”
Sure.
He made the foul shot, bumping the lead back to 10.
The Hawks made another push, cutting it to five again. Durant hit a 3. Then two free throws. Then a fadeaway over two defenders.
His 41st point came on a 3-pointer with 2:15 left to play.
“I think the best part about it is my teammates wanted me to shoot,” Durant said. “They wanted me to take the tougher shots. They wanted me to shoot over two people. So that always gives me confidence. And I just tried to go out there and come through for us.” OKC’s Kevin Durant, left, drives against Atlanta’s Anthony Tolliver during the Thunder’s 100-92 win on Wednesday. Durant scored a season-high 41 points.
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